Lemi b



(No Model.)

L; B. BENTON.

(EASTER. No. 525,806. Patented Sept. 11, 1894.

' MHZ/126.9868. Zia/614501".

NlTED STATES PATENT Fries.

LEMI B. DENTON, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM S. GUNN,OF SAME PLACE.

CASTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of IlettelS Patent NO. 525,806, datedSeptember 11, 1894.

, Application filed July 18,1893. Serial ITO-480,816- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEMI B. DENTON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State of Michigan,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Caster Attachments;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in caster attachments for use inconnection with tables, beds, chairs and the like, and it consists in animproved form of caster particularly distinguished by the form of thehead of the spindle which is used, which will be hereinafter fullydescribed and particularly pointed out in the claim.

The object of my invention is to provide a caster attachment which canbe readily and easily attached to and detached from articles offurniture, which will be strong, durable and inexpensive, and which willbe so constructed as to render it impossible for the caster to drop outwhile the piece of furniture to which it is attached is being moved fromone place to another.

Heretofore casters have been made which make use of a cylindricalsocket, which is inserted into the legs of the articleof furniture towhich it is desired to attach the caster; and the caster itself has beenformed with a more or less cylindrical spindle, which is inserted intothe socket and there held. Among the means which have been devised forholding the spindle in place is that of forming the end of the spindlewith a bulbous head, and slitting the end of the spindle a shortdistance down, thus securing a spring pressure of the semi-bulbous headsagainst the sides of the socket; or in case the spindle is long enoughto permit the semi-bulbous heads to be inserted beyond the end of thesocket, to cause the said heads to spring outward and strike against theend of the socket. Both of these constructions have been found to beobjectionable because of the insecurity of the holding effect thusproduced, and because, to secure any holding effect at all, it isnecessary to slit the head of the spindle two or three times, and thusto materially weaken the same and diminish its durability.

In accomplishing the above stated object of my invention I make use, inaccordance with the prior art, of a cylindrical socket, and mount thecaster wheel upon a bifurcated hanger, from the top of which projects aspindle of a length a little greater than the socket which I use, havinga bulbous head slitted down from its end a short distance; but I obviatethe difficulty which has hitherto been present of providing means forholding the spindle in place, which will render it impossible for thecaster to drop out while the piece of furniture to which it is attachedis being moved from one place to another, by flattening the bulbous headon a plane at right angles to the plane of the slit. The increasedspring power gained by thus forming the bulbous head will be hereinafterfully considered, but it may here be briefly stated, that it arises fromthe fact that on account of the form of the head of the spindle, it isnot necessary to limit the size of the bulbous head by the diameter ofthe spindle socket, but by the diameter of the head on the planetransverse to the plane of bifurcation.

My invention is fully represented in the drawings which accompany andform a part of this application, in which the same reference lettersrefer to the same or corresponding parts, and in which- Figure 1 is aside elevation of my caster attachment, the socket carrying the spindleand the supporting ferrule being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a top planview of my caster attachment, showing the divided head of the spindle,the flattened sides of the separate parts of the same, and thesupporting upturned flange with serrated edge.

Referring to the drawings, and first to Fig. l, A represents thebifurcated hanger which carries the caster wheel, part of which isformed into an upwardly extending spindle. A, the body of the spindlewhich is above the hanger proper, is provided with the shoulder a,against which the lower end of the socket B rests.

A is the upper end of the spindle, and as shown it is slightly taperinguntil it terminates with the bulbous head E. This upper end of thespindle is slitted vertically for a portion of its length, forming thesemi-bulbous heads e e and the branches a a. Transverse to the plane ofbifurcation, the semibulbous heads are flattened,'forming the flattonedsides 6 and e. As it is in thus formin g the head of the spindle that myinvention resides, I will now describe specifically the reason therefor,and the effects thereof, first mentioning that the cylindrical socket B,(which is of any required length and diameter, is open at both ends, andhas formed on its lower end the flange b, which supports the upturnedflange (J, having a serrated edge,) is inserted into the leg of thearticle of furniture to which it is desired to attach the caster.

As will be seen in the drawings, the spindle is somewhat longer than thecylindrical socket B, the greater length being equal to the length ofthe bulbous head of the said spindle. The aperture in the leg orstandard of the article of furniture must also be made somewhat longeror deeper than the length of the socket B, so that the head E of thespindle may have free movement. When the caster is to be attached to thepiece of furniture, the spindle is inserted in the socket 13, until thebulbous head of the same passes the upper or inner end of said socket,which will be indicated bya snapping sound. The increased spring holdingeffect thus obtained may best be understood by referring to the presentconstruction of caster, and then by comparing with such construction myimproved construction.

According to the present construction of caster, in which the end of thespindle is made bulbous, and is slitted vertically two or more times, itis impossible to insert into the cylindrical socket a head larger thanthe inner diameter of said socket. It, therefore, the semi-bulbous headsare formed without the flattened sides, the diameter of the upper end ofthe spindle is determined by the diameter of the same on the plane ofbifurcation. The spring effect obtained by such bifurcation would bevery small, and it would be necessary to have the upper end of saidspindle fit very closely to the socket into which it is to be inserted,in order that the caster may be held in position when finallyin place.If, however, the semi-bulbous heads be flattened on a plane transverseto the plane of bifurcation, as is the case in my construction, thediameter of the head on the plane of bifurcation may be disregarded, andcare need only be taken to make the diameter on the plane of theflattened sides sufliciently less than the inner diameter of the socketto insure an easy entrance of the spindle. The diameter of the bulboushead may be chosen so large that it will be necessary to spring togetherthe two bifurcated portions of the same in order to secure its insertioninto the socket. The holding efiect thus obtained is very positive. Thehead of the spindle, divided and flattened as described, springing outand resting upon the upper end of the socket, forms a sufficient bearingto hold the caster wheel in place while the article of furniture towhich it is attached is raised, or is being taken from one place toanother. The spindle itself has a free movement, and can be readily andeasily inserted into and detached from the leg of the article offurniture.

It is to be noted that in the construction thus described,--and this isan important feature of my invention,--the spindle is not materiallyweakened, nor is the resiliency of its separate branches affected.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a caster-attachment, the combination with the socket, of a spindlehaving an enlarged head, flattened upon two opposite sides, and slittedvertically at right angles to said flattened sides, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LEMI B. DENTON.

\Vitnesses:

ADDISON S. GOODMAN, H. A. WOODRUFF.

